The invention relates to a municipal solid waste incinerator and more particularly to movable air seals for the rotary combustor to vary the boundary between underfire and overfire combustion air.
Municipal solid waste varies substantially from one location to another so that optimizing the burning of the municipal solid waste at each location is difficult and changes in the amount of combustion air as underfire and overfire air together with varying the speed of rotation of the combustor have been utilized to provide the optimum burning. With changes of heating value and moisture the burning efficiency of the waste within the rotary combustor is not optimized. Good axial seals as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,155 improve the burning efficiency; however, the boundaries within which overfire and underfire air is supplied remains the same, not allowing the degree of control necessary to obtain the best burning conditions for the particular waste being burned.